The Art of Lunch's first season has its grand finale for 2019 this Sunday, October 27 from noon-2pm
The event at the Avalon Restaurant in Katoomba will include fine cuisine, a stunning exhibition, and musical performances by local talents. With a "Nouveau Retro" theme, participants will meet featured digital artist Jo Langley in a live interview with host Meg Benson and then relax and soak in music by Paddy Connor and Melanie Long on banjos, vocals, mandolin and the Irish uilleann pipes.
Jo Langley finds delight and inspiration in the diversity of Blue Mountains environments at play in her digital montages. She selects and photographs vistas of wilderness landscapes and cloud formations, as well as close-ups of emblematic flora and decorative detail. Langley spends countless hours collaging digital images, a meticulous process of layering and merging elements into the completed image, using processes similar to the traditional techniques of assembling collages.
The artist's "Blue Mountains" suite on display for two months in the Avalon dining room from October 27 incorporates her fascination with folk art.
It is the fusion of Folk Art and Blue Mountains heritage that harmonises Jo Langley's exhibition with Paddy Connor's flamboyant musical genres. With intuitive skill he pulls apart the cogs and wheels of Irish, blue grass and folk music and re-makes these elements into his own earthy, modern sound, with some reinventions of rock classics too. His instrumental repertoire ranges from twanging banjo tunes to story telling guitar and stomping jigs played on the uilleann pipes.
Paddy Connor is best-known in the Mountains for his 10 years as a songwriter and banjo-slinger in local folkgrass band Lime and Steel. His journey in Irish music began 20 years ago when he spent a year in Galway and became steeped in the rich pub session culture of Ireland's west coast.
The Avalon's culinary team continue to design three-course meals inspired by the theme, this time with surprising mixes of something old and something new. Dietary requirements need to be registered in advance and bookings are preferred by October 23 by visiting www.artoflunch.com.au or phoning Avalon on 4782 5532.
